28 August 2009

I am in Phoenix, Arizona staying at what should be one of the coolest hotels, the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Arizona Biltmore. It's my second night and I am waiting to be moved to my third room. Yawn.

On arrival I was given a key and map to find a room that turned out to be what felt like a quarter mile away, in 112 degree heat and smelled like a dirty baby diaper (the room, not me I hope!).

I tolerated it the first night passing other lost customers looking for their rooms on my walk back and forth. When a hotel representative type came by to check the status of my mini bar, I pulled him inside and asked if all the rooms smelled like mine. "Noooooooooooo....."

I felt pretty smug being moved into a room in the main building so I wouldn't have to hike around the compound each time I went to a meeting until I came back after the evening session to find my room warm and stuffy. The maintenance man came by after a while and recommended moving yet again. Aaaargh.

Good news is I finally got a room with a hot pot for tea. Maybe that is really why I had to keep room hopping.

In other news, my presentation went really well! Coolness. There are 400 or so health care Volunteer program managers here and quite a few topic choices for each time slot. I had no idea if my subject would be of any interest but my room was nicely filled and people seemed to have a good time. I've never presented at a national conference before so this felt pretty good.

26 August 2009

Quick funny from Miss Cellania and then I need to get to bed. G'night folks!

Ole, while not a brilliant scholar, was a gifted portrait artist.

As his fame grew, people from all over the country were coming to him in Minnesota for portraits.

One day while Ole was mowing the lawn, a beautiful woman pulled up to his house in a stretch limo. She asked Ole if he would paint her in the nude. She said money was no object -- she was willing to pay him $50,000.

Not wanting to get into trouble with Lena, Ollie asked the woman to wait while he went in the house and conferred with his missus.

In a few minutes he returned and said to the lady, "Ya, shoor, you betcha. I'll paint ya in da nude, but I'll haff ta leave my socks on so I'll have a place to wipe my brushes."

I am so incredibly weary. Long days all this week trying to tie up loose ends before I leave town. That's what happens with many so balls bouncing at once. It takes too many plans to keep them all bouncing when I step out of the picture. I hit the couch and nodded off after my two pieces of left over pizza and hadn't even started packing yet.

25 August 2009

Okay, it's not exactly a Charleston daily photo, but close enough. This is the wee little post office in Adams Run, S.C. I must have caught it right after a fresh coat of paint.

Remember looking forward to the mailman? With email and your comments it's like getting mail every time I check online. I love getting comments and can't thank you all enough. I've been too busy lately to return them like I should but I will! I will.

My grandmother had a Scottish accent and enjoyed her daily trip to the roadside mailbox see if the "Postie" had come. Now all I get are ads that I never open, credit card offers, privacy notifications and regular increases in insurance premiums. They are threatening again to cut out weekend mail delivery and for the first time I can hardly care.

Have you noticed that even the blue mail boxes are disappearing? I often take an envelope to slip in the mail when I go on a walk and end up bringing it right back home again.

Tea time kids! I had another long day with fund raising sales beginning at 7 a.m. Periodically I let vendors in to sell to employees and I get a percentage that the volunteers can use to do lovely things for the hospital. I sold over $17,000 worth of scrub suits, shoes and uniforms in one eight hour day. It boggles the mind. We are going to have some well dressed nurses.

24 August 2009

This long hot summer is beginning to make me grouchy. There isn't really anything you can do outside without dripping sweat, showering, changing clothes yet again. Besides, I've been at work for twelve hours, I'm starving and none of you have dinner ready.

Time for a funny. As you know, I am obligated to pass on all medical humor.

22 August 2009

Six of my girlfriends and I took a day trip this morning, heading for lunch at the Sanctuary at Kiawah.

Wow. It is so beautiful. I know when they designed it, they wanted it to look like it had been there over-looking the ocean forever and they were successful. We had lunch at the Jasmine Porch, were treated extra specially by O.T. (who claimed the initials stood for Over Time) and were surprised with complimentary desserts before we wandered outside. I felt like I was walking through magazine pages.

If you haven't been, you really should visit. You tell them at the gate that you are visiting the Sanctuary. They have a few lovely shops and an ice cream parlor in the lobby. We stopped at Fields Farms on Johns Island on the way back for fresh tomatoes and peaches as if we were going to be hungry again at any time in the near future.

The Red Dress is the national symbol for heart disease awareness and prevention. At the hospital I work at, we've turned the Red Dress into an oddly successful fund raising prank. It all started four years ago when I asked one of my volunteers to sew a couple red dresses - in men's sizes.

We set it up so that the gentleman in whose name we donated the most money, would have to wear the Red Dress in public, parade through the hospital and sit down and have lunch in the hospital cafeteria. The prank has taken on a life of it's own, growing more successful and raising more money each year. The promo photo ops have become more and more elaborate and I send around links to photo albums making staff all over our facilities splutter and spill coffee over their key boards. Wives and girlfriends donate accessories and Dillards actually loaned one of our physicians two dresses to wear last year.

From Anesthesiologists to Pharmacists, our Vice Presidents and CEO's, they have been oddly horrified and flattered when asked to represent a heart walk team. The Women's & Children's staff even roped in one of the on-site construction workers.

This is how I ended my day today, taking pictures of five men from our Central & Physician Billing Office. Their co-workers almost died laughing while I was taking the picture and a man walked out, talking on his cell phone and started handing the "ladies" dollar bills.

Thanks guys! Just keep reminding yourself that it is for a good cause! Thanks to Leah Sparks for coordinating the happy chaos.

20 August 2009

I took a couple friends to my favorite theater this afternoon. One hundred and thirty of them. Heh! There were about ten regular customers who I am sure hoped for an empty theater on a Thursday matinee and we had the place packed full.

Owner Mike Furlinger gave me a little discount for my hospital volunteers and we used it as an end of summer thank you event, skipped out of work and saw "Julia & Julia". What fun. The movie was grand, Meryl Streep was the perfect Julia Child.

I found it hard to care about the blogger gal part of the movie and that's too bad considering I've been more of a blogger than a cook lately. Since I wasn't familiar with her part of the story before today I'm not sure if a good actress was realistically portraying a whiny person or if a bad actress was portraying a likable gal. The contrast of her cranky character with the joyful Julia was almost too much. Julie Powell still has a blog.

It was a blast knowing everyone in a packed theater. A few of us continued the party at Zia next door. What I had was very good but I am going to have to go back for the Portabella Quesadilla I had my eye on across the table. Yum, yum!

Have the rest of you seen it already? What did you think?

Thanks Mike, for hosting us so graciously at the Terrace Theater! We had a great time!

19 August 2009

I attended the Social Media Club Charleston panel discussion this evening at the college of Charleston's Wachovia Auditorium where we were promised that there were no "stupid questions" about twitter, facebook, friendfeed etc. My impression was that most of the attendees were business people trying to promote their products and talents.

Turns out I am old fashioned and quaint simply being a blogger. I am vintage social media.

It's all very exciting and things are changing so fast it's hard to keep up. I'm not too worried. I work in a "people" job and my day to day life is overwhelmingly social. It's so darned social I am very protective of my personal time. Other than blogging and visiting yours, I have an ancient cell phone that I forget to carry, I don't turn on my answering machine at home and rarely announce what I am doing until after I've done it.

Description: Social Media Club brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. Essentially the people who create and consume media who have an interest in seeing the ‘media industry’ evolve for everyone’s benefit.

Lucky for us, these clever people on our panel (below) are keeping up with the trends and willing to share their expertise with all of us. Keep an eye on their web site or Facebook fan site for future meetings. I might see you there, or I might not. I won't tweeting tell you.

18 August 2009

I am falling to sleep, kids, so just a couple pictures this evening. Busy days lately. These are from my favorite cemetery, Magnolia Cemetery on upper Meeting St. Well worth a walk with a camera. Take your bug spray since it is set along the marsh.

Two things, one - I clearly spend way too much time on pranks. Two, I have very patient family and friends. Three, being mature sucks.

A couple of years ago I painted a quilt on my ratty old garage doors. They couldn't look worse so I used up every old dribble of paint I had and turned it into a bed mural. I thought it would be terrible funny to joke about everyone I'd had in my bed. Harhar. Recently, thinking that I would eventually sell my house, I decided to do the grown up thing and paint it. Grey. Sad, eh? How incredible boring is that?

16 August 2009

The Sock Monkey adventures continue. Too funny. Gracie is one of our pet therapy dogs. The monkey is part of our "Don't Monkey Around With Heart Disease" sock monkeys. They are breeding and popping up everywhere.

This Agave plant has been putting on such a show on upper Coming St. I kept trying to remember to get up there to get a picture but by this morning I had already missed the real show of blossoms. The folks at 53 Cannon didn't though! They caught it in full bloom.

The Agave americana is often called the century plant because was reputed to bloom only once in 100 years, but that's an exaggeration. It does only bloom once in its lifetime, but usually between 7 and 20 years. The main plant then dies, but most species produce shoots that will take over and grow to maturity. Beautiful flower spikes reach for the sky in many, including the Century Plant Agave americana which can have a bloom spike up to 40 feet (12 meters) high!

Perhaps one of the best known uses for agave is the production of tequila, which has long been a vital industry in Mexico. Tequila is made from the fermented and distilled juices, called aquamiel or "honey water," produced by the agave just before it flowers. In 1999, Mexico exported some 21 million gallons (80 million liters) of tequila to the United States, and the current annual value of these exports is about 200 million dollars. In fact, the agave plants grown on plantations are so valuable that they must be protected from agave rustlers!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I had brunch at the Med Bistro with my friend Estelle. Tried to go to Three Little Birds but I'm simply not willing to wait for a table for brunch and there was a crowd waiting at 11 a.m.

15 August 2009

Checking google search terms that landed folks on this site is a fun hobby. This morning's crop (other than the "nice sharp boops") were pretty straight forward searches for Charleston information so I decided to do a customer service day and link people up with some of the most common ones.

The Crepe Myrtles have been glorious this year, although they've recently had many of the blossoms beaten off the branches with our daily rain storms. It's been a trick staying a step ahead of dark storm clouds lately. That is a cute little closed up service station in the background.

Later kids. I am taking my sore toe out for a stroll down King St. to see how we manage. It looks and feels much better after evening soaks this week. I had bruises up and down my forehead, arms and legs from the cabinet that landed on me and although I am feeling healed they look most impressively colorful and dramatic now. I had lots of worried questions at work this week. Nice folks I work with.

Word spread that I was trying to pass it off as an "old sex injury" and people started poking their heads in my office just to ask how I got hurt. Hmmmmmph. Why is that so outrageous? It was supposed to be funny but not THAT funny. ;)

14 August 2009

Whenever I find something clever and poetic on the pavement now I google it to discover it is a segment of a song lyric.

Four Year StrongHeroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die lyrics

Oh, something tells meI'm never gone live this one downBut I'll tryI'm gonna need a quick hand,A sharp eye, a smooth talkerJust to play this one out to the very end.

And this is where you come inI know, that I could count on you to walk me throughAnd I'm making sure that anyone whos anyoneCan be the someone that they've always wanted to.

If I couldn't get away with anythingThen how in the hell did I get hereSay something. Say something. Say anything.You were never the one to have something to say.Say something. say something. say anything.

I've seen the best and worst of youBut we're sticking throughCause the without all of the ups and downsWe've been throughYou know that its trueThat I could get really sick and tired of you.

Oh, something tells meI'm never gonna live this one downBut I'm down and outCause if the tensions light as a featherThen I'd be bored stiffWe gotta mix things up a bit to keep up my interest

Sad enough to say thatAlone I could barely light a matchBut together we can burn this place down.

Sorry about the messBut when we team upWe always seem to bring this place to the ground

And this is where you come inI know, that I could count on you to walk me throughAnd I'm making sure that anyone whos anyoneCan be the someone that they've always wanted to.

13 August 2009

I shouldn't have matched a good seafood restaurant with this entry. :) Unrelated. Unrelated.

These new studies showing that vigorous exercise doesn't help you lose weight are pretty depressing. I've been basing my whole aging strategy on eating like a little piggie and walking it off. Sigh.

Time Magazine: Why Exercise Won't Make You ThinThe basic problem is that while it's true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.

Bummer. They admit exercise helps you stay healthy but not necessarily thinner.

I just walked past this building and grabbed a shot knowing I had a "before" in my files. Wow. We went through an uglification period didn't we? Sad to think this beautiful building was covered up.

I have many happy memories of this building. It used to be the old St. Francis Xavier Hospital and that third floor was the labor & delivery unit. At one time there was a Nursing Home across the street and I was taking care of a gal in labor whose grandmother was a patient in it. They wheeled grandma to the front and parked her outside the door. I called them when the baby was born and held the slippery little one up at the window for her to see to the applause of all the staff. Fun stuff.

Later on, I was in that third floor window on the right, encouraging a lady to push as Hurricane Hugo hit. The ceiling tiles were lifting up in the air as the storm blew in and maintenance men were nailing plywood to the windows. Lordy. We moved all the patients to the inner halls and lost many of the windows.

When St. Francis hospital moved West of the Ashley the Medical University of SC bought the building. It's still ugly but I expect amazing things still happen every day.

12 August 2009

I like ancient trees and old cemeteries and this picture nicely includes them both.

See the black area on the tree trunk? The cremated remains of the former owner of Magnolia Plantation are neatly tucked inside the ancient oak tree. Not sure how the tree felt about that. I expect it won't be long before the wound heals over and he will be completely sealed inside it.

By the time John Drayton Hastie passed away in 2003, he had restored Magnolia Gardens to their former glory. And rather than be interred in the historic Drayton family tomb along the Ashley River, Hastie chose to remain forever one with the gardens he loved. His remains were cremated and placed in a large live oak tree near Magnolia’s famous Long Bridge – a tree reported to have been planted by the first American Drayton, Thomas, more than 300 years ago.

I came home early to work on a project. Spent hours on it. When I tried to save it, I got a "problem with this program, needs to close" message. Now I can't even open the power point program file from my thumb drive. Sheeeesh. Hours, I tell ya. Hours. Clearly no sense trying to do anymore work tonight.

11 August 2009

The mural on Nikki's Leeds, Alabama Daily Photo blog reminded me of something and I finally found it. I have my pictures sorted into albums and this one is in "Back Roads, S.C." Googling it, it looks like it is in Lauren's, SC but I am happy to be corrected by someone more familiar with the area.

I love steam engines so I will toss in a reminder that October is Steam Train Days in Winnsboro, S.C. Sponsored by the South Carolina Railroad Museum you can ride a real coal powered steam engine for ten miles through the country side. It is suggested that you buy your tickets ahead.

Special Event Days:The special event days are as follows:October 2009 - Steam Train Special - The dates for the return of the Flagg Coal Company #75 an operating coal fired 0-4-0 steam engine are currently being finalized. Please check back here often for updates.

I dipped into my Charleston albums for this shot since I'm a bloody cripple still with my nasty swollen toe, cut above my eye and bruises up and down my arms.

What do folks who don't spend an hour walking every evening do with their time? It's driving me crazy and it's just been two days. My toe is less swollen this evening so I put on the only sandals I can wear and lurched around the block walking Rutledge, Morris, Jasper. Heh. Step, lurch, step, lurch.

10 August 2009

I am still eating dangerously well, folks. Can't believe my luck really. I was taking pictures at a benefit dinner not too long ago where friends Joe and Maddy bid and won an auction item. The prize was to have Executive Chef Tyler Brown from the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee come to their home to prepare dinner. I slid under the wire and was included as a dinner guest. Woohoo!

I've always wondered how these things worked. Since Chef Brown is good friends with Chef Sean Brock from McCrady's Restaurant he came along and both of them whipped up the most magnificent feast. Joe and Maddy have a lovely home on the marsh in Mt. Pleasant and the perfect kitchen for an event like this.

There were a couple of things that I really enjoyed - one was watching the gentlemen's manly fingers doing such dainty work, sprinkling the dishes with tiny edible flowers and turning the shrimp into a Monet painting. The other thing, besides the delicious food, was listening to these two talented friends laughing their heads off as they worked in the kitchen. It really was fun.

I may need to take some food photography lessons if I am to keep up this trend.

Watch out Charleston Cycle Chic, there are some new girls in town! It's clearly never too young to look stylish on a bike.

I stopped by the Roper Learning Center's Trike-a-Thon for the American Heart Association this morning and had so much fun watching the kids ride laps on their tricycles. It was too, too, too darned cute for words.

I took pictures of the boys as well as the girls but these gals reminded me of the Charleston Cycle Chic group. They define Cycle Chic as:

So what is Charleston Cycle Chic?

It’s a movement to move, an expression of style, and a show of grace. It’s a celebration of life and the wind in your hair. It’s about getting out of your car and taking back the bike. (And looking fabulous while doing it.)These kids definitely look fabulous!

09 August 2009

It's late kids and I have to get my wide awake self to bed and scrunch my eyes closed. I've had a busy weekend and hate to see it end. I haven't had a chance to upload pictures yet so will leave you with an old planet Follywood shot.

Creating planets is a fun photo technique. Check out the flickr group for some incredible examples. Here are the PhotoJoJo instructions to make your own.

08 August 2009

When I sent my brother brake pads for his mountain bike, I wrapped them up in a couple of College of Charleston shirts. I opened my mail to find this adorable photo this morning. These are my nephews Murray and Rydin in Shillong, India. The boys are best known on my blog for the picture I once posted on the bottom of this page.

If you want to know why he needed brake pads, here is Jim's tale of an insane bike ride in the mountains of North East India. It's been suggested that I might send him a helmet as well.

Y'all go ahead and sleep in. I have to get to Lowes for paint. Because that is what I do. Blah.

07 August 2009

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. Robert Louis Stevenson

Most of the pictures of the lovely oak trees I post are taken on my walk from my car to my office in the morning. I've been enjoying showing you a sneak peak at this lovely meditation garden. It's always been a beautiful spot, and is absolutely incredible now.

We are waiting delivery of a life size statue of Jesus that is being hand carved by a sculptor in Ohio. Opening festivities are being planned for when the final touches are in place but awestruck visitors are discovering it and slipping in already. Bring your camera. Holler if you need directions.

Before & After, from Mel's Beauty Lounge to Dave's Seafood Carryout on Coming St. I've never actually eaten at Dave's although it is just up the street. According to the Yelp reviews I need to get in there for some fried shrimp.

Thanks for stopping by. Your bonus this evening is a Monkey Pool Party! Yipee! Everyone in the pool! I found the link where I've been finding a lot of smiles, on Bits & Pieces.

06 August 2009

One of the best things about Facebook is the number of birthday greetings you get. I'm not very good at remembering people's birthdays and it's a helpful reminder. I clicked on FB this evening and noticed it was my friend Bryan's birthday.

Bryan aka the Barefoot Fencer taught my kids fencing some years ago as well as teaching the College of Charleston team and sponsoring area tournaments. One year I took a couple of his old fencing masks and decorated them for his birthday. He kept wearing them as usual. Heh. Can you imaging Betty Boop coming as you with a sharp foil? Ouchie.